101. Who gets the gametes? An argument for a points system for fertility patients
- Author
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Jonathan Ives, Sue Avery, Simon Jenkins, and Heather Draper
- Subjects
Male ,Parents ,Health (social science) ,Eggs ,Health Services Accessibility ,0302 clinical medicine ,Order (exchange) ,Argument ,allocation ,Medicine ,Bioethical Issues ,media_common ,fertility ,030219 obstetrics & reproductive medicine ,Reproduction ,Health Policy ,Social Discrimination ,Dissent and Disputes ,Fertility clinic ,gametes ,Female ,Original Article ,Adult ,Attitude of Health Personnel ,Gametes ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Allocation ,Resistance (psychoanalysis) ,Fertility ,sperm ,Convention ,reproduction ,03 medical and health sciences ,Directed Tissue Donation ,Stakeholder Participation ,eggs ,Humans ,QL ,Actuarial science ,Points ,business.industry ,Bioethics ,Original Articles ,QP ,Sperm ,United Kingdom ,points ,Philosophy ,Germ Cells ,Infertility ,RG ,business ,Welfare - Abstract
This paper argues that the convention of allocating donated gametes on a “first come, first served” basis should be replaced with an allocation sys-tem that takes into account more morally relevant criteria than waiting time. This conclusion was developed using an empirical bioethics method-ology, which involved a study of the views of eighteen staff members from seven UK fertility clinics, and twenty academics, policy-makers, representa-tives of patient groups, and other relevant professionals, on the allocation of donated sperm and eggs. Against these views, we consider some nu-anced ways of including criteria in a points allocation system. We argue that such a system is more ethically robust than “first come, first served”, but we acknowledge that our results suggest that a points system will meet with resistance from those working in the field. We conclude that criteria such as a patient’s age, potentially damaging substance use, and parental status should be used to allocate points and determine which patients re-ceive treatment and in what order. These and other factors should be ap-plied according to how they bear on considerations like child welfare, pa-tient welfare, and the effectiveness of the proposed treatment.
- Published
- 2015